


Homeward from the Lonely Shore

by SilverSlashes



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-31
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 15:03:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1392055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSlashes/pseuds/SilverSlashes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p> Kris and Adam were childhood best friends, growing up in Atlantic Beach, NC.  But a misunderstanding tore them apart and 10 years later they lead separate lives, tormented by the memory of a friendship that was once the source of their happiness and the broken promise of a relationship that was never given a chance to become more.  Now, Adam’s back in town on a forced vacation and Kris is determined to let the past stay the past.  But, sometimes the Carolina shore has a way of weaving a spell as demanding as the pull of the tide and as steady as the waves on the sand.  Hopefully, it will be enough to guide two stubborn, wayward hearts home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was so much a labor of love because it is the first story I have ever written that closely resembles something that happened in my own life.  I would like to thank my artist [](http://radiogaga33.livejournal.com/profile)[ **radiogaga33**](http://radiogaga33.livejournal.com/)  for giving me the type of art I wanted without me having to even explain what I wanted.  The art is truly amazing and I can't believe it depicts a story that I wrote! Also, as always, thank you to my amazing beta [](http://babyduckling.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://babyduckling.livejournal.com/) **babyduckling**  without whom I would be completely lost in a deep and overwhelming sea of plot ideas and no writing to show for it.  I hope you enjoy(ed) the story!!!

**Title: Homeward from the Lonely Shore**  
 **Author:**[](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/profile)[ **silver_slashes**](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/)    
 **Artist:**[](http://radiogaga33.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://radiogaga33.livejournal.com/) **radiogaga33**    
 **Type:** Romance AU  
 **Word Count:** ~15500  
 **Rating:** NC-17  
 **Characters/Pairings:** Adam/Kris, Katy/Matt, mentions of Kris/Katy  
 **Warnings** sexual content, adult language, angst  
 **Summary:** Kris and Adam were childhood best friends, growing up in Atlantic Beach, NC. But a misunderstanding tore them apart and 10 years later they lead separate lives, tormented by the memory of a friendship that was once the source of their happiness and the broken promise of a relationship that was never given a chance to become more. Now, Adam’s back in town on a forced vacation and Kris is determined to let the past stay the past. But, sometimes the Carolina shore has a way of weaving a spell as demanding as the pull of the tide and as steady as the waves on the sand. Hopefully, it will be enough to guide two stubborn, wayward hearts home.

**Link to fic master post:**[Go Read It](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/16142.html#cutid1) (or [download PDF](https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5GjiINFcIEhMTJlMjI0Y2UtOTEyMy00MTc4LTkyM2ItYjE2NThiMzE3YjYy&hl=en_US) copy)  
 **Link to art master post:**[Go See It](http://radiogaga33.livejournal.com/68708.html#cutid1)  


  
 

Also, there is a soundtrack!!!

 

 

 

  
[Download the Songs](http://www.mediafire.com/?zde3303fc7byw) 

 


	2. Homeward from the Lonely Shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris and Adam were childhood best friends, growing up in Atlantic Beach, NC. But a misunderstanding tore them apart and 10 years later they lead separate lives, tormented by the memory of a friendship that was once the source of their happiness and the broken promise of a relationship that was never given a chance to become more. Now, Adam’s back in town on a forced vacation and Kris is determined to let the past stay the past. But, sometimes the Carolina shore has a way of weaving a spell as demanding as the pull of the tide and as steady as the waves on the sand. Hopefully, it will be enough to guide two stubborn, wayward hearts home.

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came.  
~JFK

  
Adam watched the waves roll on to the shore, their roaring crash just a dull background noise to the silent warmth of Kris’s skin pressed up against his own. They were laid out side by side, dozing on the sand in their favorite spot. It was a relatively deserted stretch of beach tucked away behind an old house between the Morehead City side and the Atlantic Beach side of Emerald Isle, North Carolina. Occasionally a jogger or a dog walker would pass by, giving a courtesy glance to the lazy teenagers passed out in the sun.

Adam cracked one eye open as he felt Kris shift onto his side. He sighed softly, forlornly, as Kris’s warm skin slipped away.

Kris was looking down at him now, his upper body shading Adam from the sun, “when are you leaving again?”

“Saturday,” Adam shrugged, “I’ve been packed for days anyway.”

Kris smiled and laughed, “doesn’t stop your Mom from asking if you’ve forgotten something…”

“… like every fucking three minutes,” Adam growled in annoyance.

Kris laughed again at Adam’s expense and didn’t stop until Adam flicked him in the ear and they ended up in a friendly punching contest. Kris won when he went to ruffle Adam’s hair and Adam freaked out and rolled away from Kris’s reach.

Kris chuckled and settled back onto the sand. Adam moved back over and leaned over Kris just as Kris had done to him. He tried to ignore all the million little things he always noticed when he looked at Kris; the sweep of his lashes, the curve of his nose, the honey brown of his eyes.

Adam had to look away, out towards the ocean waves as he talked to Kris, “when do your classes start?”

Kris shrugged, his eyes closed, “I don’t know, sometime in late August, a few weeks I guess. I’m going to help Katy move into her dorm a few days before her classes start so…”

Adam ginned, “she’s just lucky that she has an awesome boyfriend whose willing to drive with her down the coast 2 hours to help her haul all her shit up three flights of stairs.”

Kris cracked one eye open looking dubious, “who said anything about stairs? There’s an elevator,” he paused looking worried, “there better be an elevator.”

Adam laughed, “I wish I had a dashing man to help move me into my dorm.”

Kris barked a laugh, “I’m sure you’ll be reeling them in within hours of arriving on campus.”

Adam didn’t have anything to say, really couldn’t put into words how much he would miss Kris. Adam would just try, and fail, not to cry. Kris would just try to comfort him and hide his emotional awkwardness. Kris never really said what he felt but, he did a pretty good job of making Adam feel it anyway.

That was why he was surprised when he felt Kris’s fingers gripping his arm so Adam would look at him, “I’m going to miss you.”

Adam flashed him a smile and nodded. He knew if he opened his mouth he would say everything he shouldn’t.

Finally Adam swallowed, took a deep breath and said, “Promise me we’ll always be friends.”

Kris smiled up at him, easy and lazy like the Carolina heat, “like you can get rid of me that easy.”

Kris poked Adam in the chest, “you have to come home at some point, otherwise, your mom will kill you and all this is a moot point.”

Adam smiled, rolling on his back again so that he and Kris’s arms were touching again.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll be home for Christmas.”

Adam let the sound of the waves lull him back into a summer stupor. He could feel his cheeks burning but he didn’t care.

Before he drifted off he heard Kris say, “don’t worry, once you’re friends with someone you can’t ever not be friends, distance doesn’t matter so much, I don’t think.”

Adam made a humming noise and let the salty sea air cover his skin as he lay with Kris in the sand.

 

When someone said count your blessings now before they're long gone  
I guess I just didn't know how, I was all wrong  
They knew better, still you said forever.  
~Pink

**Ten Years Later**

Adam tried not to scream as another high-pitched screech echoed around the concert hall and the sound guy scrambled to cut the feedback loop.

Adam ground his teeth and snapped loudly, “Jesus Fucking Christ Paul, how old is this system?!”

Lane chose that moment to march onto the stage and steer Adam firmly towards his dressing room with an apologetic glance at Paul. Once Adam was sprawled out on the couch and taking deep breaths, she started taping on her phone.

Adam tried very hard to ignore the words coming out of her mouth, sure that they were a stinging reprimand for his attitude. He opened his eyes when he heard the word vacation though.

“… I’m clearing your post-tour schedule; it’s just label functions any way. You aren’t exactly charming to be around right now any way so I doubt they’ll mind.”

Adam groaned and drug himself into a vertical alignment with Lane’s imposing figure above him, “You’re a goddess Lane, seriously a goddess.”

She smiled, “yeah, yeah… you’re going somewhere in the states though. I’ll rent you a house somewhere for a week or so on some beach.”

Adam nodded enthusiastically and waved a hand in the air, signaling his lack of care about the destination, “Just make sure it’s not a typical celeb spot, I wanna be left the fuck alone!”

Adam should have known that he needed to be more specific, especially when Lane had said beach. Because Fate and Karma were bitches and those sluts had it out for Adam Lambert.

That was why, two weeks later, Adam and Lane were having it out in Adam’s living room.

“I don’t’ wanna go there!”

“What is your issue Adam?!”

Lane looked ready to pull out her hair, “you’re from there! It’s a vacation destination! Not a lot of celebrities even know it exists! It’s on a beach!”

Adam huffed, “my parents don’t even live there anymore…”

“All the better,” Lane threw her hands in the air, “I don’t understand Adam, it’s a warm beach, salt air, a big house, and a whole relaxing week of being alone.”

Adam turned away from Lane, towards the back of his LA house. He had a great view of the valley. But Adam wasn’t really seeing the view right now. He was seeing tumbling blue waves and warm brown eyes. He sighed and tried to rein in his emotions. He had been working on being centered; the key was to remember to take deep breaths.

He heard Lane also take a deep breath, “I don’t know why you’re acting like that but, the deposit on the house is non-refundable. Not that it’s a problem, just… just give me some time and I’ll switch some stuff around and…”

Adam turned around, “No, no, it’s fine Lane. You did good,” he smiled at his assistant and made a mental note to buy her something nice and large.

He laughed, “I’m just being a diva.”

Lane smiled back, confused but happy that she didn’t have to change all his travel plans, and Adam tried not to visibly panic. Some vacation this was going to be.

He was going to spend the week in Emerald Isle, North Carolina.

He was going home.

 

… although [friendship] can change shape, look different in different lights, become an embarrassment or an encumbrance or a sorrow, it can’t simply cease to have existed, no matter how far into the past it sinks, so attempts to disavow or destroy it… are bound to be fruitless, causing damage only to the humans involved rather than to the friendship…  
~Deborah Eisenberg

Kris slowed his run to a brisk walk as he fumbled for his phone in the back pocket and pressed the button to answer.

“You’re the only employee I have who calls me before 9:00 A.M.”

Cale’s easy tone bounced back at him, “you’re the only boss I’ve ever had who takes his phone jogging.”

Kris laughed and then grimaced as he felt sand in his Nike shift around. He hadn’t noticed that until he’d stopped running. Of course, Kris didn’t notice anything when he ran except the wind at his back and the edge of the surf at his feet.

Cale’s voice jarred Kris out of the predicament of sand in his shoe, “hey, look man, I called early to tell you that Allison is sick and I got to cover her houses today. I owe her from a few months back.”

Kris nodded, “fine man, whatever. But, you get the coffee. I like…”

“Two sugars and two creamers, yeah I know, you pansy,” Cale made a revolted noise at Kris’s taste in coffee and hung up the phone.

Kris flopped down in the sand to take his shoes off to dump out the offending substance. That was the one down side to living at the beach—sand. Well, sand and tourist season. Kris glanced both ways down the beach as he tied his shoelaces back up. He was hit with the strangest sense of déjà vu and he sat for a minute trying to shake the feeling. He jogged this stretch of beach often so he had definitely been here before. But, it was something else.

Just then the morning sun cut through the fog and mist of dawn and Kris was blinded by the radiant light reflecting off the endless stretch of water. Kris felt the rays soaking into his skin and he knew where the strange familiarity of the place was coming from. This particular point on the beach had always been their spot.

Kris stood up quickly, dusting off the sand that stuck to his ass and continuing his jog down the beach. He shook off the feeling of smooth skin and soft hair. He pretended he couldn’t hear the voice following him on the wind from the sand dunes behind him… promise me Kris, promise me we’ll always be friends.

He ran longer than he normally did. He was running behind when he pulled up to his Morehead City office and got a shake of the head and cup of coffee from Cale as he walked into the door.

Kris smiled, “Thanks man. Look, just focus on Allison’s stuff today. You can push your stuff back in the week ok? We really need to get some people in the 7th Street house; I don’t want it just sitting there. I don’t care at this point if we rent it out, or lease to own, or sell it to a coven of vampires.”

Cale laughed but nodded, “I hear ya, vampires, I’m on it.”

Kris sighed and took a sip of coffee, “Thanks Cale, I’ll be in my office trying to fight my way through the battle for the land rights to the Sea Side Motel property.”

Cale gave him a sympathetic look and moved towards his own office in the back of the building. Kris maneuvered around the coffee station and to his own office. It was going to be a long day, he just knew it.

 

The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights.  
~Giotto di Bondone

Kris walked out of his office when he heard the front door open and the bell clink softly. He heard the laughter before he saw Noah, but that was all the warning he got before Kris had a blond streak running towards him.

Noah giggled as he propelled himself at Kris who swept him up and tossed him into the air before settling the boy on his hip and returning the child’s enthusiastic greeting of, “Uncle Kris!”

Kris turned with Noah in his arms to face Katy. She smiled as her son buried his blond head in Kris’s shoulder. She looked quite excited and determined about something though and Kris’s earlier foreboding took over again.

Katy smiled, “he misses you. He keeps begging Matt and I to have parent time so that you can baby sit again.”

Kris laughed, “What can I say? Noah and I are buddies. Isn’t that right Noah?”

Noah looked up at Kris, “can you come play trucks with me again?”

Kris smiled at Noah, “I would love to play trucks with you again. We just have to get your Mommy and Daddy to go out and have adult time.”

Katy laughed, “yeah, well, if Daddy doesn’t take Mommy out for some adult time really soon Mommy is going to start throwing things at him.”

Kris laughed even as he winced for Matt, “well, you know if you need me all you have to do is call.”

“Thanks Kris, I appreciate it.”

Kris felt a little uncomfortable as Katy continued to look at him with a fond, serious gaze, “um, why are you looking at me like that?”

She shook herself a little and shrugged, “nothing, just glad we remained friends after we broke up. I know it was really hard for a while but, I’m glad things turned out the way they did, you know?”

Kris shrugged and shifted Noah who was still clinging to his shoulder like an octopus, “yeah, I’m just glad you didn’t hate me for wasting almost 4 years of your life and all…”

Kris trailed off as Katy waved a hand like it was water under the bridge, “you broke up with me because you were gay Kris and you were trying to deal with it and, hey, I found Matt and we had Noah and…”

“… he’s like the best kid ever,” Kris finished for her.

“Yeah,” Katy smiled up at him again.

Kris narrowed his eyes, “what brings up all this nostalgia you’re throwing at me this bright and early morning?”

Katy’s eyes took on a guarded but excited expression gleam, “because I was at the grocery store this morning and…”

“Mommy wouldn’t get me Fruit Loops!”

Noah had spoken up from Kris’s shoulder and Kris tried to sound properly outraged, “What? No! Did you tell her that Fruit Loops are the breakfast of champions?”

Noah shook his head sadly and Kris smiled as he finally put Noah down, “well, next time I come over we’ll eat Fruit Loops and play trucks.”

Noah gave Kris a high-five and then turned to run over to Cale’s office to bother him.

Katy watched Noah running and listened for Cale to notice him before she turned her attention back to Kris, “I’m pretty sure that Wheaties are the breakfast of champions but, thanks for that asshole.”

Kris chuckled, “anytime.”

“So, anyway, what I was saying is that I overheard at the grocery store that someone was back in town for a little bit on a vacation and I thought you would be very interested to know who it was…”

Kris’s heart skipped a beat in his chest as his blood froze a little. He tried to move past the paralysis as he convinced himself that Katy was probably talking about anyone else other than who Kris had immediately thought of.

He thought maybe he managed to ask Katy without sounding like he was choking, “who?”

Katy was practically bouncing now, “Adam Lambert!”

Kris felt his vision kind of white out and he barely remembered getting to his desk chair before his knees kind of gave way.

“Kris?”

Katy was calling his name, “Kris?”

Kris heard himself talking as if someone else was doing it for him, “I thought he lived in LA?”

“He does, I guess he’s just on vacation from all the craziness that being a Rock Star entails.”

Kris grabbed for his coffee to have something to do, “Rock Stars don’t vacation in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina…”

Katy made a face, “they do if they’re from here.”

Kris countered, “His parents don’t even live here anymore.”

Katy crossed her arms, “what’s your problem? I thought you’d be happy that he’s in town. You haven’t seen each other in ten years and this is the perfect opportunity to just man up and…”

Kris stood up, “No, Katy, no. Don’t think it. Don’t say it. I can’t do this right now…”

Kris took a deep breath and pushed on before Katy could interrupt him, “Adam and I both made choices and we both have to live with them and I don’t care why he’s chosen to come back after all these years but, I will not be welcoming him back to town with a fake smile and a cold bottle of champagne.”

Katy tried to interrupt anyway, “Kris, I’ve told you for years how stupid you both are and I can’t believe that you won’t at least consider going to see him while he…”

“Katy!”

Katy stopped short; Kris almost never raised his voice at anyone.

Kris softened his voice, “I know you mean well but, I would rather just live with the good memories of the friendship that I had with Adam then try to screw it up by confronting ten years of regret and neglect.”

Kris’s voice sounded sad, “I still live here, and Adam lives in LA. I’m a small town entrepreneur,” Katy snorted at that but didn’t interrupt, “and Adam is a glamorous rock star.”

Kris sighed, “I’m no closer to being worthy of him than I was in high school.”

Katy turned as Cale and Noah came to stand in the door to see what the shouting was all about.

Katy scooped up Noah to leave. She turned around in Kris’s office doorway as Cale stood aside for her to leave.

Kris looked at her face and saw the crushing look of disappointment he had seen almost ten years ago, except now it was for a different reason a she practically hissed at him, “the fact that you’re not even brave enough to try, means that you get to lose him all over again Kristopher.”

And then she walked out.

 

[Part Two](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/16427.html#cutid1)


	3. Homeward from the Lonely Shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  Kris and Adam were childhood best friends, growing up in Atlantic Beach, NC. But a misunderstanding tore them apart and 10 years later they lead separate lives, tormented by the memory of a friendship that was once the source of their happiness and the broken promise of a relationship that was never given a chance to become more. Now, Adam’s back in town on a forced vacation and Kris is determined to let the past stay the past. But, sometimes the Carolina shore has a way of weaving a spell as demanding as the pull of the tide and as steady as the waves on the sand. Hopefully, it will be enough to guide two stubborn, wayward hearts home.

All love that has not friendship for its base is like a mansion built upon the sand.  
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Adam had tried to be as invisible as possible. He had flown into Raleigh and driven to Morehead City at night. He had gone jogging on the beach the next morning really early and with a hoodie that covered his hair. He had even gone to the grocery store pretty early in the morning, on a Monday, to avoid being spotted. He wasn’t worried that he would be spotted by any type of press.

He wasn’t even laboring under any delusions that he would be able to keep his presence from the locals. But, he wasn’t expecting to see his high school drama teacher, his mama’s old yoga partner, and some guy he graduated high school with whose name he couldn’t remember all at the grocery store, on a Monday morning!

By now the entire town knew that he was in town and it would only be a matter of time before most of them figured out where he was staying. It would only be a matter of time before Kris knew and then Adam, well, he didn’t know what would happen. He just knew he was terrified.

To distract himself, and because he was supposed to be on vacation, Adam cooked pasta for lunch and ate out on the back deck. He felt something calming and soothing wash through him as the noise of the crashing waves re-acclimatized with his ears. Adam thought about going for a swim or maybe reading some. He could do anything and nothing. He could take a nap.

He could find Kris? Adam shook himself. No, that was not an option. He needed to be much more prepared for that then he was right now. Then again, ten years should have been long enough to prepare him to admit that maybe he had over reacted and that maybe he should apologize.

But then every so often the hurt, as biting and consuming as it had been the very first time he had felt it, would bubble up out of nowhere and Adam would be left angry again. He just couldn’t understand, had never understood as hard as he had tried to, why Kris had done that to Adam.

You just, didn’t do that.

They had been best friends and Adam had felt the worst kind of betrayed when his mom had called that fall afternoon to give him the gossip about town. Adam had been completely blindsided when his mom had explained that Kris and Katy had broken up and the rumor was that Kris had come out to his parents. Adam had almost fallen off his dorm bed with shock.

Kris hadn’t called him, hadn’t told him, had never hinted or mentioned that he might be gay or bi. All those years that they had been best friends, that Kris had supported Adam coming out, had defended him to their small-minded southern town, not once had Kris confided in Adam.

It had hurt Adam more than he could have ever expressed; not that Kris obviously didn’t want Adam in the same way that Adam had always known he wanted Kris, but that Kris hadn’t valued their friendship enough to confide something so basic about himself to Adam. Adam had been dialing Kris’s number the moment he had hung up with this mother.

And then, he’d paused and put the phone down. Adam had remembered that last day on the beach when Kris had promised he’d be Adam’s friend forever. It was the betrayal of that moment that had made Adam the most angry. Kris had taken one of Adam’s best memories of their friendship and had tainted it with doubt and insecurity.

Adam remembered now how vindicated he had felt when he made the decision to not call Kris. And he had continued not calling Kris. He made excuses not to go home for break that year and every year following until he moved to LA, then later tried out for Idol and Adam just never looked back. His parents moved to the west coast and Adam’s hometown in eastern North Carolina, his life there, just faded in his memory.

Now, ten years later he was back in the land of sand and sun, a rock star on vacation, living the dream, tired and alone.

Adam decided he was too restless to read so after doing his few dishes he walked down the steps to sit on the beach. He kept to the dunes hoping the few people dotted along the beach wouldn’t pay too much attention or know who he was. He looked out at the blue ocean, the horizon so open and full of water as far as you could see.

Adam had once thought that he and Kris’s friendship was like the ocean, vast and deep. Their friendship had been Adam’s comparable consolation prize for not really having Kris in a romantic way. It had been well worth the effort Adam had made to hide his feelings from Kris.

Adam kicked at the sand and shells under his feet. The problem with telling someone that you’ll be friends forever is that sometimes people hurt each other, grow apart, and forget what they had.

Adam knows this now. He became painfully aware of it the day he thought about calling Kris up for old times’ sake, went to search him in his contacts and couldn’t find his number. When had he lost Kris’s number? This wasn’t how Adam had thought it would be.

This wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he’d said they would keep in touch. Had he become the bad guy? Was it wrong to simply shrug and think the phone worked both ways? Would Kris even have Adam’s number? How many times had he changed it now due to stalker fans? Yeah, maybe Adam was being unfair.

The problem really, was that Adam was a coward, hiding from his mistakes. Adam had made Kris promise to keep in touch. Adam had made Kris promise they’d be friends forever. And, now, Adam had just as effectively shattered those promises as Kris had. Because it took two people to build a friendship and two people to tear it to pieces and scatter it to the wind.

Adam knew that now. He hadn’t known that when he’d made all those promises. He hadn’t known that when he’d hugged Kris that last time and told him he'd see him in a few months. He hadn’t thought about that when he’d been so angry at Kris all those years ago.

Ten years was a long time to forget to be somebody’s friend out of anger. Ten years was a long time to nurse the pain. Ten years was a long time to pretend that the glitter you were walking on was really just broken glass. And it was so hard to remember not to remember and so easy to forget to forget.

Adam thought about going in as the hours ticked by but he couldn’t leave the beach. The ocean had been the one thing he had missed from home. The west coast water just wasn’t the same. Adam hauled himself up into a sitting position and dusted the sand off his ass. He turned as if to go inside, maybe he’d heat up some pasta for dinner?

Instead he slipped his sandals off and left them in the dunes as he made his way down to the surf. He’d stick his toes in the water and watch the sunset as it reflected back over the water from the opposite side of the sky.

He sighed as he felt the warm water wash over his feet and curl around his ankles. Adam watched as the sun slowly started to sink down behind him and the sky over the sea caught fire. He felt a shift in the air as the sea breeze swirled around him and turned to scan the beach behind him.

He looked up to where he had left his shoes near the stairs to the house and saw someone standing there. As Adam turned around and stared harder out of the shallow water he was standing in, he realized it was Kris. His heart skipped a beat and his stomach twisted in on itself.

Adam took his time walking up the beach to meet Kris, taking in the older version of the memories he had carried with him these many years. Kris looked so damn hot… older, yet sharper somehow than Adam would have pictured. It was so unfair, Adam thought, that Kris had managed to keep the same youthful energy about him; or the he was so attractive still with his ruffled hair and honey brown eyes. It had taken years of soul-searching, a lot of experimentation, and an hour in the mirror every morning to get Adam looking like he did now.

Kris smiled at him, warm yet guarded, and Adam smiled back, wary but unable to keep the feelings he had always had for Kris from showing on his face completely. When they were standing in front of each other Adam hesitated, his gaze sweeping over Kris as if expecting him to disappear. They both seemed frozen in the moment of--- oh, you're here.

Finally Adam surged forward, pushing down the anger and the hurt and all the fucking questions, to wrap his arms around Kris in a tight hug. He heard a sound catch in Kris's throat before he melted into Adam's embrace, burying his head in Adam's shoulder like old times as they tried to fuse themselves together.

Adam felt his throat tighten, "I'm so angry at you."

He felt Kris's small frame shudder and heard Kris's muffled response, "I know, I'm kind of pissed at you too."

Adam laughed even though nothing was really funny, "I know," he said.

Adam felt the late afternoon wind pick-up and it blew cool air over the tear tracks on his face.

Adam finally pulled away, still unable to keep his eyes from roaming over Kris. Both of them had changed so much and yet so little. Adam could clearly see the changes that ten years had wrought on Kris but, he could feel the familiar warmth of his Kris radiating out towards him like the rays of a bright summer sun. Different, yet the same. Altered, but not erased. Strange, and achingly familiar.

Kris smiled as he reached up to stroke his fingers through Adam’s hair. The tremble in his hands enough to let Adam know he wasn’t alone in his overwhelmed state.

Kris’s eyes seemed riveted to his hair and Adam had to remind himself that it hadn’t been black the last time Kris’s hands had been in it, “I thought maybe seeing you on TV would prepare me for how different you look, but it didn’t.”

Adam smiled slyly, his tone teasing, “did you watch me on American Idol?”

Kris ducked his head, but he didn’t blush and he answered calmly, “of course I did, every single week I watched. I bought your albums too.”

Adam smiled, “I didn’t think you were the type to like the kind of music I make.”

Kris shrugged, “I’m not really into that type of music, but I’m into your music.”

Adam felt the pressure building in his chest again and all he could do for a minute was stare at Kris and try not to sob.

“Thank you,” he finally managed to choke out, “it means a lot to me that you supported me.”

Kris shrugged and looked out at the ocean. The rippled glass of the sea was now stained pink and orange with the colors of the dying sun.

“It’s what friends do,” he said, so quietly that Adam almost didn’t hear him over the rush of the restless water.

They both looked at each other then, locking eyes for the first time and just refusing to look away. Adam knew they needed to really talk but, he was afraid that they might make it worse somehow.

Then again, what could be worse than not having Kris in his life? The last ten years hadn’t been a great time for their friendship; maybe it was time to try something new?

Adam nodded his head towards the wooden steps that climbed over the dunes and led back to his place, “do you wanna come in for a drink?”

Kris nodded and Adam stooped to grab his sandals before leading the way.

Adam threw questions over his shoulder as he followed the walk-way to his porch, “how did you know where I was staying?”

Kris laughed, “Well, I have a friend who does a lot of the rentals on the island. She owed me a favor but, she said that for confidentiality reasons she couldn’t divulge your address.”

Adam looked over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised in question.

Kris grinned, “But, she might have mentioned that if I were to walk down a certain section of beach that I may or may not find you on the beach behind the house whose address she couldn’t possibly divulge.”

Adam laughed, “I had almost forgotten how southern gossip manages to squeeze its way past moral and legal barriers by sheer force of human will to meddle. It’s like sand at the beach--- everywhere and irritating when it’s gets into places it shouldn’t be.”

Kris chuckled at the metaphor but he didn’t look apologetic. Adam wasn’t sure if he was impressed that Kris had tracked him down so soon, or perturbed.

Adam pulled open the screen door and motioned for Kris to sit on the couch, “what’ya want to drink? A beer?”

Kris nodded, “yeah, whatever you got.”

Adam went into the kitchen to grab two beers from the fridge.

He heard Kris yell from the living room, “You strike me as a pink umbrella type of guy…”

Adam walked to the couch and set the beers on the coffee table, “yeah, well, I do enjoy a good Cosmo from time to time. But, I really outdid the whole liquor scene during my club kid days in LA.”

Kris nodded, “I know what you mean. Before Katy and I split, I visited her a few times in Wilmington and we went to house parties and dorm parties and beach parties.”

Kris winced, “I’ll never be able to drink Goldschlager again, that’s for sure.”

Adam laughed, “Speaking of Katy, how is she?”

Adam knew he hadn’t imagined Kris tensing up a little as the conversation steered inexorably towards serious waters. He seemed to shake it off quickly though.

Kris grinned, “she’s great, and married to a really nice guy--- Matt. They have a son named Noah, who is four,” Kris’s smile got wider, “he calls me Uncle Kris.”

Adam smiled at Kris’s obvious joy over Noah. Adam liked children too, maybe even hoped to have them some day. He and Brad had discussed it once, during a more serious period of their relationship, as a future possibility.

Kris’s smile faltered, “Katy and Noah came by my office today because Katy heard from the guy at the grocery check-out that you were in town.”

Adam simply waited, it was important that this be a dialogue, no matter how much Adam simply wanted to yell at Kris. It took patience to get Kris to talk though, and Adam liked to think he’d gained some in the years since high school.

Kris rubbed at his face with his hands, a nervous habit that Adam noticed hadn’t gone away, “she yelled at me, said I was being a coward and that I should go and see you.”

Kris looked up at Adam, “but I didn’t want to come see you because… I was so angry. I’ve been angry for a long time.”

Adam tried breathing deep to calm his swirling emotions, he was the one who should be angry, “so why did you come see me anyway?”

Kris looked away again, “because Katy was right, I am afraid. More than I’m angry, more than I’m hurt, more than anything, I’m afraid. I’ve been afraid for a long time. I was afraid when you left for college, I was afraid when I came out, and I was afraid when you didn’t come home that I’d lost…”

Kris trailed off, his eyes snapped back to Adam, a little of the anger he had discussed seeping into his words, “why didn’t you come back?”

Adam had really tried not to be spiteful, but Kris’s question rang more like an accusation and some of Adam’s bitterness crawled to the surface, “why didn’t you call?”

Kris flinched a little, “I was waiting for you to come home for break that first year so I could talk to you in person. But, then you didn’t come home and I thought maybe you needed some space or that you didn’t know how to tell me you weren’t interested in the gay version of me…”

Adam’s eyes narrowed, “they gay version of you?”

Kris plowed ahead now, not hearing Adam or choosing to ignore him, “but then, the months turned to years and your cell number didn’t work and your parents moved and I got really good at being stubborn about not remembering you,” Kris laughed, but it was hallow, “or I got really good at pretending not to remember.”

Adam just stared at Kris for a second, his words hauntingly similar to Adam’s own thoughts, before everything he had ever wanted to say just kind of burst out, “you wanted to wait till I came home from college to tell me you were gay?! Was before I left for college not good enough for you?!”

“I had to find out from my Mom! I was so furious with you! Why couldn’t you have told me in high school? Why couldn’t you just call and tell me about it?”

Kris’s voice was small, “I didn’t know…”

Adam pointed to himself, “you had an openly gay best friend that you spent a lot of time with. Nothing I ever said or did ever made you think you might be gay too?”

Kris shrugged, “I was scared that…”

Adam’s eyes flashed, the blue color getting deeper, “what? Scared that telling me you were gay might create tension? Scared that I would want you because I was gay too and you might have to beat me off with a big stick? Did you stop to think about our friendship? Did you even consider trusting that none of that would matter as long as we were still friends? Do you know how hurt I was when I realized you hadn’t told me first? I was so crushed, so convinced that you didn’t trust me…”

Kris looked angry again, “so what, you decided to just never talk to me again? You decided to teach me a lesson by never coming home?”

Adam sighed, “I’m not proud of the fact that I did something that petty, but yes, as the time I just felt so betrayed that it seemed like a good idea. I felt like our entire friendship had been based on a lie because I had always been completely honest with you about myself and you hadn’t.”

Kris fell back into the couch cushions, “so, you didn’t come home because I didn’t call.”

Adam rubbed at his eyes and tried not to smear his liner, “and you didn’t call because I didn’t come home.”

They were both silent for a few minutes before Kris spoke back up, “Adam, have you ever been afraid of something that you wanted? Or, I mean, have you ever been afraid to want something?”

Adam’s brow creased and he started to answer, but Kris interrupted him, “no, I mean, like a paralyzing fear that turns your insides to ice. Fear that makes you shy away from important, life changing decisions because you’re afraid of the fall-out.”

Adam nodded again and his voice was soft when he spoke, “I felt that way for most of our friendship, in high school, because I was terrified that you would see how much I loved you more than I was supposed to.”

Kris’s entire body stilled and his eyes widened in surprise, “really?”

Adam nodded, trying not to let his panic overwhelm him at his confession, “yeah, really.”

Kris shook his head, “I wish I’d known.”

Adam tried to be nonchalant, “it doesn’t matter, you didn’t know you were gay.”

Kris shook his head vehemently, “no, it totally matters. That’s why I wanted to talk to you face to face. I didn’t just want to come out to you, I wanted to tell you how much I, “ Kris’s voice cracked a bit, “how much I loved you.”

Kris pressed into Adam’s silent shock, “I thought that in high school we were just really close, connected friends and then you left and I stayed here. With you gone, I realized it was so much more than that and it terrified me. Eventually, I told my parents and broke up with Katy. I was just waiting for you to come home so I could tell you, so I could show you how much you…”

Kris trailed off, going quiet for a minute. When he looked back up his eyes had darkened and his face had taken on a serious, hungry edge.

His voice was a little rough when he spoke again, “I just needed you to come home.”

Adam almost choked on air at the smoldering look in Kris’s eyes. The fear they had discussed, all the earlier nervousness and anger was gone. It was like Kris had finally discovered that they were on the same page, that they were adults, and that they were alone in a house. He looked like he was currently, meticulously planning all the many things he wanted to do to Adam now that they weren’t shouting at each other.

Of course, Adam thought, Kris had waited ten long years. He had probably dated other men too, experimented with what he liked and what kind of guy he liked. Adam wondered if the men in Kris’s past looked anything like Adam, because some of Adam’s exes sure looked a lot like Kris.

It was the thought of Kris with other men, coupled with the realization that they had both been so stupid for ten years, that propelled Adam forward. Both of them had waited too long, and that ended tonight.

 

One kiss breaches the distance between friendship and love.  
~Anonymous

Kris met him halfway across the barely there distance between them. Adam felt their passion surge together, crashing like waves upon the rocks as their lips met. Time slowed down and Adam couldn’t breathe as he opened his mouth, their lips moved together, and Kris’s tongue slipped into Adam’s mouth.

Kris felt like he was drowning in the best way possible, surrounded by Adam’s smell and his warm, solid body pressed up against Kris’s. Kris slipped his tongue into Adam’s mouth as they opened to each other and he could taste him as he explored. He tasted like Kris had always imagined and yet nothing like what he had expected, all at the same time.

It wasn’t enough though, as they kissed hungrily. It wasn’t enough and Kris needed more as Adam’s tongue chased Kris’s tongue into his own mouth and Adam deepened the kiss pressing himself into Kris as if trying to feed him his very soul. And still, it wasn’t enough.

Kris pushed up, pushed Adam backwards onto the couch with his hands and his body. He moved until Adam had fallen back, one leg pressed into the couch and the other hanging off onto the floor as Kris moved between his thighs. Adam looked up at him, a little surprised, like he hadn’t quite figured out how he had ended up on bottom.

Kris laughed and then lowered himself to continue kissing Adam as they moved against one another their hips slowly seeking the pressure that they needed. Kris reached up to thread his fingers through Adam’s hair, tugging his head back to expose his neck. Kris slowly pressed his teeth into the skin between Adam’s neck and shoulder, pleased when Adam shuttered beneath him and moaned loudly.

Kris licked and sucked at the bite mark, moving up to nip at Adam’s ear loving the freckles he found there. Kris promised himself that he would re-learn where each one was and hopefully discover some that he hadn’t dared to know about in high school.

Adam was hard as a rock and seeing stars. He hadn’t expected Kris to be so, consuming. He had simply moved to take what he wanted and Adam was happily caught up in the tidal wave of lust currently swooping through his body as Kris’s mouth did wonderful things to that spot right below his ear.

Kris was a toppy bottom which Adam could appreciate, he liked bossy bottoms. Unless, Adam thought a little belatedly, Kris was an actual top. Huh, that could prove interesting. They would just have to cross that bridge when they got to it. Adam moved his hands down and up under Kris’s shirt, stroking his back before moving his hands around to the front. He skimmed his fingertips over Kris’s nipples and Kris jerked, his breath catching in Adam’s ear.

Adam felt Kris’s hips press harder into his own and he moaned at the contact. He pushed at Kris’s chest, his hands sliding out of Kris’s shirt.

Adam’s voice was rough when he spoke, “bedroom.”

Kris nodded, moved to stand up as gracefully as possible and grabbed Adam’s hand to yank him to his feet so Kris could follow him to the bedroom. They couldn’t get there fast enough. Kris started stripping his clothes off as Adam turned on the lamp in the room. The soft glow was just enough and he was momentarily distracted by watching the muscles in Kris’s back ripple as he undressed.

Adam shook himself out of it and moved to grab lube and condoms out of his bag before yanking the covers on the bed down and moving to take his own clothes off. He wrestled his shirt off and turned away from the bed to shimmy his pants down and kick them off towards the wall. He had just freed himself when he felt a body press against his back, soft lips ghosting over the skin between his shoulder blades.

Kris was naked where he pressed into Adam and he couldn’t help but shift his body back slightly, rocking his hips back into Kris’s hard cock. They both groaned loudly as Kris’s hands moved to squeeze Adam’s hips and caress up his stomach until he was tweaking Adam’s nipples. Adam cried out when he felt Kris’s teeth sink into the skin on his shoulder blade.

So many sensations all at once, jolts of pleasure running through his body. But, he wanted to touch and taste Kris just as badly as he wanted to be touched and tasted in return. Adam stepped forward and turned, cupping Kris’s head in his hands and leaning in to kiss him again. He swept his tongue into Kris’s mouth, giving teasing and playful nips to his bottom lip as he moved them towards the bed.

Kris fell willingly onto the bed, allowing Adam to move over him and pin him to the bed with his weight. Kris just arched up into Adam’s body seeking skin to skin contact and making a pleased noise when their cocks brushed together. Adam placed kisses all over Kris’s chest, licking at the salty skin and sucking one nipple into his mouth. He hummed in contentment as he felt Kris’s fingers gripping his hair and tugging ever so slightly.

“Kris,” Adam looked up with hooded eyes, his tone gruff, “do you prefer top or bottom?”

Kris smiled, his hand reached out to grab the lube off the bedside table and he slapped it in Adam’s hand, “I prefer the bottom, most of the time.”

Adam smiled back as he took the lube, “you’re a very demanding bottom.”

Kris laughed but Adam could feel his body coiling in anticipation, “it’s part of my charm.”

Kris practically vibrated with need as he watched Adam squeeze lube out onto his fingers. Adam resumed his oral exploration of Kris’s chest and neck and he felt Adam’s fingers rubbing over his hole. Kris almost lost it, not just because of the feeling but because it was Adam taking over his body, Adam giving him pleasure.

He managed to keep it together but he couldn’t help the way his legs fell open further, the needy tilt of his hips, or the embarrassing, pleased noises that escaped his mouth. Adam practically purred in response and slowly pressed one long finger into Kris. Kris shut his eyes briefly at the sensations that assaulted his body but, he was helpless against the need to see Adam.

Kris still wasn’t sure this wasn’t just an amazing dream, Adam with his blue eyes, freckled skin, and wicked smile above Kris, watching him. Adam with his warm, naked body, his beautiful lips moving over Kris’s skin as he touched Kris in the most intimate of places.

It was everything Kris had allowed himself to hope for in only the most desperate of moments and the most secret of places these past few years. His brain was short-circuiting and Kris was trying very hard to remain present even as his brain worked to reconcile the Adam he had been best friends with and the Adam that he was currently sleeping with--- different and the same.

Kris wasn’t used to the directness, the boldness, the very adult way in which the situation was different. But the way Adam looked at him, his eyes as he marked Kris’s body and worked to give him pleasure, the tenderness that Kris could see in Adam’s face was as familiar to him as the sound of the ocean.

And for a minute, as Adam pushed in a second finger and Kris tightened his hold in Adam’s hair and their eyes stayed locked together, Kris felt the ten years between them fall away like a sand castle built to close to the water’s edge. It was just he and Adam: best friends, skin touching, love shared, promises kept.

Adam was stretching him now, fingers stroking over Kris’s prostrate, and Kris was rocking his hips up into Adam’s movements.

Kris let his hands trail down Adam’s shoulders as he whispered his name, his breath catching on the first letter, “Adam.”

Adam moved his head up, whispering back into Kris’s mouth as he probed his tongue in and out, “Kris.”

Kris‘s hips jerked again at the pleasure, “please, I need…”

Kris hadn’t even finished the sentence before Adam was grabbing the condom wrapper and ripping it open with his teeth. He had a look of supreme concentration on his face when he rolled the condom on and only then did Kris realize that Adam was just as desperate as Kris was.

Adam lined himself up, hands tight on Kris’s hips as he slowly pushed inside. Kris gritted his teeth and kept breathing, it had been a while since he had done this. He groaned as he felt Adam filling him and Kris felt Adam’s body shaking with the concentration to go slow and be still while Kris adjusted.

By the time Adam was fully seated Kris had shoved the slight burn to the back of his mind in pursuit of the pleasure. He wrapped his legs around Adam’s hips and rocked against him, experimentally clenching the muscles in his lower body. He was rewarded by the startled, choked off cry that Adam made and the involuntary thrust of his hips out and back into Kris.

Kris cried out, “yes, that’s it, move, please move, Adam.”

That was all it took. Adam was lost and his hips started to push and pull in an escalating rhythm that had Kris moaning and panting as he worked to follow Adam’s tempo and thrust against him. Adam pushed Kris’s hips down and brought one hand up to lift Kris’s leg higher to change the angle.

Kris keened low in the back of his throat as the new position caused Adam to brush against his sweet spot as they continued to move together. Kris was so close, he could feel his orgasm rising inside him, the pleasure spreading throughout his body. Adam seemed to sense it as he let go of Kris’s leg to grab his cock and jerk him in time to Adam’s thrusts. Kris lasted for a few more seconds after that and he shouted his orgasm out, calling Adam’s name as he spilled between them.

Kris’s body went boneless and pliant under Adam in a post-orgasmic daze. He felt Adam grip his hips and fuck into him harder as he chased his own release. Kris felt arousal stir hot inside him again when Adam called his name as he came.

Adam pulled out of him slowly, trying not to cause Kris any discomfort, and pulled the condom off. Kris watched him tie it off and leave the bed to toss it in the bathroom. Adam came back with a washcloth which he insisted on cleaning Kris with and Kris was simply too tired to argue. He did make a whining noise when he felt Adam’s fingers brushing over his entrance and kisses being peppered across his ass and lower back.

Finally, Adam tossed the cloth on the floor when he was done and he pulled the covers over the both of them. He spooned up close to Kris’s side and ran his hands in soothing patterns over Kris’s skin as they both drifted into an exhausted and satisfied sleep.

[Part Three](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/16792.html#cutid1)  



	4. Homeward from the Lonely Shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  Kris and Adam were childhood best friends, growing up in Atlantic Beach, NC. But a misunderstanding tore them apart and 10 years later they lead separate lives, tormented by the memory of a friendship that was once the source of their happiness and the broken promise of a relationship that was never given a chance to become more. Now, Adam’s back in town on a forced vacation and Kris is determined to let the past stay the past. But, sometimes the Carolina shore has a way of weaving a spell as demanding as the pull of the tide and as steady as the waves on the sand. Hopefully, it will be enough to guide two stubborn, wayward hearts home.

Sometimes love gets lost in translation.  
~Kris Allen

  
When Adam woke up the bed was empty beside him. He searched the house, but there was no Kris and no note. If not for the spectacular hickey on his throat and the other marks dotting his skin, Adam would have thought last night a dream. Kris had come crashing back into his life like a breaking wave, only to leave as silently as the tide when it recedes back into the ocean.

When the doorbell rang that afternoon it was Katy and not Kris who Adam opened the door to. She was standing there, hands on her hips and a determined stare on her face.

Before Adam could even get out a hello she pounced, “what did you do to him Adam?”

Adam smiled, “oh, hello Katy, it’s wonderful to see you too, after so long. I hear you have an adorable son named Noah.”

Katy laughed, “Yes, I do. If you play your cards right you just might become Uncle Adam. I expect expensive gifts… I hear you can afford it.”

Adam laughed loudly, “I missed your freshness.”

Katy winked, “and I missed your stunning good looks, the black does wonders for you by the way,” she pointed to his hair.

“Thanks, I’ve tried a few different colors but, this one stuck.”

She marched inside, “but, I’m not here to chit-chat. Why is Kris refusing to come out of his house? He called in sick to work, told Cale to take over, he never does that?”

Adam shrugged, “I wish I knew. He was here last night and he was gone this morning and I thought we had kind of worked it out but, I think I’m confused again.”

Katy huffed out an exaggerated sound, “I see, well, how about you get me a drink and I’ll give you some answers, because I’m going to save Kris Allen from his own stupidity if it kills us both.”

Adam turned to walk towards the kitchen, “I was just about to make mimosas, sound good?”

Katy just shut the door and followed him to throw herself on the couch, “make them strong.”

Katy downed her first drink in one go. Adam watched as she wrinkled her nose as the champagne bubbles tickled the back of her throat.

She motioned that she needed more and when Adam only chuckled and poured more into her glass she just grimaced, “sorry, I’m trying to drink away my guilt.”

“Your guilt,” Adam drank his mimosa with more reserve.

“Yes, guilt, because for all my bravado, I know that if Kris knew I was here he would be so angry at me.”

Adam leaned forward to put one hand on Katy’s knee, “hey, Katybaby, I won’t tell him you were here if that’s what you want.”

Katy smiled, “it’s been a long time since I heard that nickname. I always liked it, you know?”

Adam grinned warmly back, “That’s because I came up with it.”

Katy laughed, not a forced chuckled but an actual laugh, and the sound bounced around the room like light, “I’m sure that’s exactly what it was.”

She sighed and placed her hand over Adam’s where it rested on her knee, “If you don’t mind, will you tell me what you talked about last night and then, I’ll tell you what I think.”

Adam downed the remainder of his drink and set the glass down on the table, “well, he came up on the beach last night, late afternoon I guess. Startled me at first but, I guess we were both a little shocked. He said something about you convincing him to see me…”

Katy shrugged even though Adam could see her bottom lip quiver a bit, “I might have yelled at him using words like coward and chances and regret.”

“Well, I think we both have enough regrets to sink a ship at this point.”

He shook Katy’s knee with his hand, “we were both so stupid Katy! I was angry at him because I thought him coming out after I left was his way of rejecting me, our friendship, just everything. He was angry at me because he thought that me not coming home after he came out was me rejecting him and…”

“… You were both very stubborn, stupid, petty, hopelessly in love friends who let ten years go by without speaking? Yes. All true.”

Adam blinked at Katy’s blunt summation, “well, when you put it like that…”

Katy smiled sadly, “I tried, I really did, to talk some sense into him. I tried to tell him about the way you used to look at him when we were in high school.”

Adam’s hand slipped out from under Katy’s, his eyes wary, “I didn’t know I had been that obvious back then.”

Katy chased his hand back into a firm grasp, “of course, neither one of you realized you were being that obvious. To most people, you probably weren’t. But I saw enough, I guessed. You can get away with an awful lot when you give someone love and call it friendship. But, you and Kris always had the ability to be more; you both deserve to reach for more.”

Adam nodded, “I know, and last night was… but, now…” Adam’s free hand fluttered uncertainly, “what happened? Why did he leave again?”

Adam nodded towards the kitchen, “I thought we’d wake up and discuss how to date from opposite coasts over breakfast.”

Katy laughed, “of course you did honey, because you are a do’er. But Kris, although he may not look it sometimes, is a thinker.”

Adam nodded, “sure but, what does that have to do with anything? Are you saying that Kris is over analyzing the situation?”

“Oh, that isn’t even the half of it,” Katy shook her head, “Kris is scared out of his mind right now. I now understand why he is holed up in that house, probably building his walls up again after they got torn down last night.”

Adam looked confused, he felt confused, “he did talk a lot about fear last night but, that was more about coming out and being worried that I didn’t want him like he wanted me.”

Adam wiggled his eyebrows, “but, I think I very physically dissuaded him of that notion.”

Katy laughed but her reply was sober, “that’s just it though, Kris has gotten exactly what he wants and he still doesn’t think he deserves it.”

When Adam still looked slightly confused she added, “He doesn’t think he deserves you Adam.”

  


  
Love is friendship set to music.  
~ E. Joseph Crossmann

Kris hummed out the melody in his head as he strummed that guitar strings. He didn’t play for people anymore, not since high school and Adam. But, sometimes when he watched Noah, he’d play for him. He still wrote occasionally, when the itch hit him. But, the music had kind of left his life a while ago. His passion for it had been replaced with his drive to be a successful business owner, his need to make something of himself.

Kris had watched Adam on Idol and decided he’d never be brave enough to do it, no matter how many times Adam had told him in high school that Kris had a talent. Plus, Kris liked more intimate venues than the kind of stage American Idol gives you. Kris had wanted to share his music with the world one small, smoky bar at a time. He didn’t want to shoot glitter out of cannons and pander to mobs of fans.

Kris enjoyed coastal life. Which was why, even after his business had grown, he’d elected to stay in the Carolinas. Small towns may hide their share of heartbreak and southern scandal but, there was a friendly breeze dancing along the coastal winds of uneasy history. Even here, in the most uneventful place on the Atlantic Seaboard. Everyone wanted to go to The Hamptons, Charleston, Savannah not Morehead City, Emerald Isle, or Beaufort.

Why would you take simple when you could have glamorous? Why would you want charming when you could have popular and flashy?

Kris played the opening notes to a song he had been working on for a while. It was about longing and trying to let go, about wishing and reaching for things you weren’t allowed to have. He let the music wash over him, alone on his back porch with the moon and the waves.

 

Cuando amor no es locura, no es amor.  
When love is not madness, it is not love.  
\--Spanish proverb

 

At first, Adam was still looking at Katy as if he couldn’t understand what she said. But then, very slowly, he started to look a little horrified at her suggestion as realization dawned on him.

She patted his hand, “Let me tell you something you might not know about Kris. He’s worth millions of dollars,” she looked thoughtfully at Adam, “maybe more than you, maybe less, I don’t know.”

Adam’s mouth opened and closed but he didn’t say anything so Katy continued, “you wouldn’t know it just looking at him or his life, he has nice enough stuff and a big house on the beach. But he’s living below his means in the extreme, I mean that boy sticks to humble like a 4 year old sticks to mud.”

Katy laughed, “trust me, I know.”

Adam kind of smiled to let her know he was listening but, he still seemed incapable of speech.

Katy shrugged, “So, yeah, after he saw you on American Idol he kind of sold his dad’s business and got into real estate. His Dad gave him his blessing and Kris got a loan and his license. He got started by buying properties locally,” Katy snapped her fingers, “I mean, just like that. He started fixing them up and selling them out again at fair prices. He built a name for himself and it didn’t seem to matter how many people told him it wasn’t a good time to go into real estate.”

Katy took a sip of her drink, “anyway, now he owns properties up and down the east coast, has a couple of realtors that work for him locally in his Morehead City office and a few that work out of their homes in South Carolina and Rhode Island and Florida.”

“Everyone thought Kris was just being a ‘go-getter’, trying to make something of himself. His Dad thought maybe he had realized he wanted to prove that he could grow his own business, that he wasn’t the small-town, ignorant guy who got handed his Dad’s commercial paint business. But, I know better.”

Katy ran a hand through her hair, “I would watch American Idol with him sometimes and he wouldn’t speak a word to me, except sometimes he would just say ‘Adam’s gonna be somebody’. I guess he reckoned that he better make something of himself too, become rich and successful so that if you ever came back, came looking for him, he’d be able to meet you half-way.”

Adam just kind of made a face and a flailing motion that seemed to indicate his general feelings of what the fuckness.

Katy nodded, her eyes sad, “I know, but, think about it. If humble, high-school Kris Allen couldn’t believe that he was good enough for a tall, ginger-haired, out-and-proud, southern Adam Lambert. Then, how do you think small-town, closet-millionaire Kris Allen feels about rock star, stunningly gorgeous, Grammy winning Adam Lambert?”

Katy watched as confusion, understanding, empathy, and anger all filtered across Adam’s face in rapid succession.

Katy grabbed a pen out of her purse and snatched her old grocery list out of the side pocket, jotting down her number and Kris’s address.

As Adam took it from her she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek, “you’re angry at him,” it wasn’t really a question.

Adam growled, “You bet your ass I’m mad at him!”

Katy nodded, as if she was satisfied with her work and got up to leave, “well, don’t stew over it for ten years. March your ass over there and show him how much you deserve one another.”

Adam snorted but smiled as he showed her to the door, “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

Katy laughed, “Oh, that’s exactly how I meant it.”

All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe  
Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something  
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again  
~ Sara Bareilles

Adam could admit that maybe he was being just a touch dramatic when he showed up at Kris’s wearing everything he had packed for this trip that could be construed as glamorous. He looked like he had just stepped off the stage of his first Glamnation tour. But, if it was the rock star in Adam that Kris felt so unworthy of, then Adam was going to show Kris how much Adam Lambert (Rock Star) wanted Kris Allen (Real Estate Tycoon).

Adam was going to prove to Kris that this fragile, beautiful thing between them was something to be protected and cherished. It was not a piece of driftwood that could be carelessly tossed back into the sea from which it emerged.

Maybe Adam was the one who didn’t deserve Kris? It wasn’t going to stop him from trying his hardest to keep him anyway. He hadn’t fought hard enough to keep Kris in his life the first time and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

When Kris opened the door Adam wasn’t sure if Kris was more shocked to see Adam, or if he was just temporarily blinded by the glitter, metal, and shiny leather.

Kris managed to get out a, “what are you doing here?”

Adam tried to give his best rock star smile. He thought maybe he was over-doing it a bit but, hey, you couldn’t over-do rock star.

“Well,” Adam made a disgruntled face, “you see, I don’t really do one-night-stands anymore. I got kinda burnt out on them in my early twenties. At the very least I’m a ‘brunch and mimosas the morning after, call me, let’s be friends’ kind of guy. So, waking up to an empty bed after a night of amazing sex makes me feel kind of used.”

Kris didn’t laugh, “How did you know where I live?”

Adam pretended to look confused, “you live here?”

Kris just stared at him.

Adam shrugged, “I have people too, you know.”

Kris frowned, “did Katy tell you?”

Adam shrugged again, “who’s Katy?”

Kris made an annoyed sound and sighed, “look, Adam, I just um, I’m sorry that I just left but, I needed…”

Adam snorted, “… some time to freak out?”

Adam had thought it best if he interrupted Kris this time before he really got going, “well, you’ve had all afternoon and most of the dinner hour to freak out and I think I’ve been patient long enough.”

Adam noticed that Kris seemed rather distracted by his entire look, eyes roaming over Adam even when Kris visibly tried to focus on Adam’s face. Adam couldn’t blame him, yesterday’s rocker tee and day old eyeliner looked like bumming compared to what Adam had going on right now.

Which was interesting because Kris was the unassuming type of manly gay and Adam would not have thought that dominate, flashy, and loud was Kris’s type. Adam found it amusing that Kris seemed to have such a thing for his rock star flare.

Kris just stood in the doorway and looked at Adam, his face so full of uncertainty that Adam’s chest ached for him. It was one thing to think you couldn’t have something. It was another thing all together to know you could have something and yet think yourself unworthy of having it.

Adam spoke softly, his tone at war with his appearance, “let me in Kris.”

Kris didn’t say anything but he did open the door enough so that Adam could slip inside.

Kris led Adam to an open living room, vaulted ceilings and cedar trimmings, it was a beautiful room. Adam would have bet money that Katy had helped Kris decorate.

Adam sat down gingerly on the couch first, letting Kris decide if he wanted to sit next to Adam or not. He did, but with a flighty kind of energy that gave Adam the impression of an animal making sure it was poised to bolt at the first sign of danger.

Adam decided to do them both a favor and just dive in head first, “Kris,” he made sure that Kris was looking him in the eyes before he continued, “you’re scared, I get it. Me too, ok. We have a lot of distance to cross, in time and miles. But, I just can’t accept that it’s not worth it, that we’re not worth it.”

Kris shook his head, “Adam, it’s not that simple. I mean, you’re…,” his eyes swept over Adam’s clothes and hair and makeup, “a fucking rock star and I’m just a small town business owner.”

Adam’s eyes darkened and his smile sharpened, “and now, you’re lying to me in an effort to down play what you bring to this relationship.”

Kris spluttered, “I’m… what? Relationship?”

Adam pretended to find his rings very interesting, his voice light, “I’d say that, including invested assets, you’re probably worth close to my current net capital Mr. Real Estate. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Did you think that it would matter?”

Kris made a kind of weird scoffing noise and Adam finally looked up.

He tried to give Kris his best fierce, sincere face, “Kris I could have come back to find you homeless, drug-addicted, or working at Subway and it wouldn’t change how I feel about you. Just like you being straight didn’t change how I felt about you in high school.”

Adam carefully brought his face closer to Kris’s and he didn’t really care if he looked crazy, which was a distinct possibility by the stunned and slightly scared look he saw on Kris’s face.

Adam sighed, making sure his breath fanned across Kris’s face, “I could have had you ten years ago if I hadn’t been so scared and stubborn and insecure. And hey,” Adam shrugged, “maybe if we’d gotten together back then it would have been a disaster. Maybe we would have just hurt one another on the way to achieving our dreams. Maybe it had to be now.”

Adam licked his lips and watched as Kris’s eyes tracked the movement, “but, what I do know is that I refuse to let your insecurities keep me from you for ten more years.”

Adam watched as Kris swallowed and his voice was soft yet firm when he spoke, “I don’t know if I’m made to be in the world you’ve created for yourself.”

Adam shook his head, “I know you’re made for me. I’ve known it since high school. I’ve known it since the first time you hugged me.”

Kris smiled, “you’re not making it easy for me to talk myself out of it. I have reasons, you know? You made something of yourself…”

Adam laughed, “Kris, you don’t think that owning millions of dollars in property up and down the eastern sea board is making something of yourself? I mean, I don’t have that kind of business smarts or shrewdness…”

Kris shrugged, “people know you’re name Adam, you’re a celebrity.”

Adam traced Kris’s hairline with his fingertips, feeling the soft hair and smooth skin, “people will know your name soon enough. I don’t care if I have to live here and fly to LA every other week. I don’t care if you want to start working that real estate magic on the west coast…”

Adam placed his hand on Kris’s knee, moving upward along his inseam in teasing strokes. He smiled when Kris jumped and his body trembled slightly beneath Adam’s hand.

Adam continued, “All I care about is finally being able to show you how much I want you in my life.”

Adam squeezed Kris’s thigh, “just admit that you want me back. Admit that you need me in your life. Tell me that you’ll fight for this.”

Kris leaned in to brush his lips over Adam’s, feather light. He moved back to separate their lips but he stayed in Adam’s space, both of then breathing slowly into the other’s mouth.

Kris kept eye contact, “I’m scared.”

“I know.”

Kris closed his eyes, his confession spilling out, “what if I get to LA and I don’t sparkle bright enough to keep up with the shine of Tensile Town?”

Adam closed the gap between them, sealing their lips together and licking into Kris’s mouth before he pulled back again, “If there is one thing I have never had a problem with, it is making something sparkle.”

Kris chuckled, his eyes opening to find Adam’s blue ones, “I just don’t know if I’m red carpet ready.”

Adam smiled, “everything in its own time. First, let’s concentrate on the next few days and weeks and try maybe waking up together tomorrow morning.”

Kris laughed and screwed his face up in mock concentration, “Ok, yeah, I can do that.”

Adam laughed too and then stopped in favor of pressing his lips to Kris’s.

They moved together again, bodies already learning how to come together in a seemingly choreographed dance. Kris moved up and Adam yanked him into his lap, wanting with such ferocity that it wiped his mind of coherent thought and stole all his finesse.

Adam wondered absently if the fire would ever diminish, if he would ever be able to temper the flames of desire that consumed him when he thought about kissing or touching Kris. Kris seemed no better; his hands ran restlessly over Adam’s hair and shoulders. His hips rocked incessantly into Adam’s.

Adam ran his hands up Kris’s jean clad thighs where they rested on either side of Adam’s hips. When he got to Kris’s groin he palmed him through the material of his pants and Kris made a startled, impatient noise. Adam just groaned into Kris’s mouth, their tongues sliding together over and over as they kissed with naked hunger.

Kris moved off of Adam, both of them unhappy about the loss of contact. He motioned for Adam to follow him as he got up though. Kris led him to the bedroom and the minute they crossed the threshold Adam was on Kris again. He removed Kris’s shirt and impatiently unbuttoned his jeans, sliding the zipper down to pull them down Kris’s slim hips.

Adam allowed Kris to drag his shirt off as he sank to his knees in front of him. Kris moaned when Adam’s breath ghosted over the thin cotton between Adam’s mouth and Kris’s cock. That was just unacceptable. Adam shoved Kris’s boxers down and licked a path from the base of Kris’s cock all the way to the tip.

Kris shuttered and plunged his fingers into Adam’s hair. Adam swallowed Kris down as he raked his blunt nails down Kris’s thighs and moaned greedily when Kris shouted his name and thrust his cock deeper into Adam’s mouth.

Adam pulled off to ask if Kris had lube and condoms. He followed Kris’s unintelligent grunt and finger pointing to the bedside table where he removed them and threw them on the bed. He pushed Kris to lie down on the bed and Adam quickly shed his pants and crawled on after him.

Kris obediently spread his legs wide for Adam, his hips tilting up. Adam appreciated the view and he slicked his fingers up with lube before lying down between Kris’s legs. He brushed his cheek along Kris’s thigh and laughed at the trail of glitter he left behind.

Kris’s hips were restless on the bed and his hands were gripping the sheets, “Adam, please, touch me.”

Adam smiled wickedly but took pity and he took Kris back into his mouth as he brushed his fingertips teasingly across Kris’s tight entrance. Kris made a pleased sound and thrust his hips back and forth between Adam’s mouth and his fingers as Adam sank two digits deep into Kris. He rubbed over Kris’s prostate and had to use his other hand to hold Kris’s hips down as he continued to move his mouth up and down on Kris’s cock.

When he felt Kris’s thigh muscles start to shake he pulled off, giving the head of Kris’s cock a final swipe of his tongue. Adam also removed his fingers and Kris cried out in protest. Adam moved up the bed, shushing him with a dirty kiss full of tongue and teeth while he reached for the condom he had tossed on the bed.

He slipped it on quickly, sinking his teeth into his bottom lips and gripping the base of his cock to keep from cuming too soon. Kris watched Adam as he waited, his eyes tracking every movement that the perfect lines of Adam’s body made. Adam lined up and sunk into Kris, making shallow thrusts at first until Kris adjusted. When Kris arched off the bed into him Adam started thrusting harder.

When Kris’s hand moved to touch his cock Adam caught it and pinned both his hands to the bed. Kris made a confused sound and opened his eyes to look at Adam.

Adam smiled but his blue eyes were dark with lust, “no touching yourself, I want you to come like this. Just feel me inside you.”

Kris moaned as Adam swiveled his hips and brushed over the spot inside him that made him see stars. Adam leaned down and pressed a kiss to Kris’s lips, his hips losing the rhythm as he pushed into Kris, trying to hit his prostate with every thrust.

Kris came apart just a few seconds before Adam lost it, both of them shouting and thrusting their bodies together as they chased after their climax.

Adam rolled to the side and off of Kris, taking the condom off and tossing it somewhere. He reached in the bedside drawer and pulled another out, placing it on the bed near him. With his hands he prompted Kris into rolling over. Kris thought maybe Adam wanted to clean him like last night. But, instead he felt Adam press two fingers into him where he was still wet and stretched.

His body strained against the touch and his cock gave a feeble twitch as he moaned, “Adam, fuck, what are you doing?”

Adam pulled his fingers apart and Kris almost shot off the bed when Adam’s tongue moved in between them. He tried to wiggle away but Adam kept him in place with a firm hand on Kris’s back.

Adam’s tongue disappeared from Kris’s hole as he spoke, “shush, baby, I’m just keeping you ready for round two.”

Kris groaned at the thought and simply drifted as he felt Adam teasing his body into readiness. Kris was already half hard again when Adam’s fingers pulled out of him and he heard the condom wrapper being torn open. Adam moved over him, his fingers threading through Kris’s and holding him to the bed as he sunk back into him from behind.

“You feel so good,” Adam whispered.

Kris’s entire body was over-sensitized, worked up to orgasm so soon after the last one. But, he could feel it building anyway like water behind a dam as Adam thrust slowly in and out of Kris’s body.

Kris’s breath caught in his throat, “Adam, I can’t, it feels… oh my god.”

Adam’s teeth scrapped over the back of Kris’s neck, his breath warm in Kris’s ear, “you feel so good baby, want you, need you so bad.”

Kris groaned went he felt Adam’s tongue lick into the shell of his ear before moving down to suck at Kris’s neck. All the while Adam thrust almost lazily into Kris’s body, their slick skin sliding easily together and apart.

Kris’s orgasm took him completely by surprise. One minute he was climbing, pressing back against Adam’s slow thrusts, and the next he was falling over the edge as pleasure burned through his body and he called out Adam’s name. Kris groaned as his body sunk into the mattress, spent.

Adam continued to chase his pleasure, his thrusts picking up speed. He shuddered above Kris and sunk his teeth into the back of Kris’s neck as he came. Kris felt the familiar heat flood his body in response to Adam’s bite, but he wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it for a while.

This time Adam did get up to dispose of the condoms and he came back with a washcloth. Kris didn’t bother to ask how Adam had found them so quickly. They lay together in bed after Adam had cleaned them both off and tossed the washcloth to the floor.

Adam’s hands were restless over Kris’s front, like he was still unaccustomed to being able to touch Kris in whatever way he wanted to.

He spoke softly into the silence of the room, “LA, NC, we’ll figure it out; I’m not leaving you behind this time.”

Kris smiled as he traced the freckles on Adam’s arm, “I’m not going to let you this time around.”

Adam sighed, “You gonna be here when I wake up tomorrow morning?”

Kris laughed, “This is my house.”

Adam was silent for a minute and then he said, “oh, yeah.”

Kris felt Adam press closer to him, “Well, in that case, you’ll have to physically throw me out if you want me to leave.”

Kris laughed quietly as he closed his eyes and let Adam’s soothing touches on his chest lull him to sleep.

 

[Epilogue](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/16985.html#cutid1)  


  
 


	5. Homeward from the Lonely Shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  Kris and Adam were childhood best friends, growing up in Atlantic Beach, NC. But a misunderstanding tore them apart and 10 years later they lead separate lives, tormented by the memory of a friendship that was once the source of their happiness and the broken promise of a relationship that was never given a chance to become more. Now, Adam’s back in town on a forced vacation and Kris is determined to let the past stay the past. But, sometimes the Carolina shore has a way of weaving a spell as demanding as the pull of the tide and as steady as the waves on the sand. Hopefully, it will be enough to guide two stubborn, wayward hearts home.

If you press me to say why I loved him  
I can say no more than it was because he was he, and I was I.  
\--Montaigne

The past few days had been a blur for Kris. Adam had somehow spent the rest of his vacation making sure that Kris didn’t get any work done and, unless it was absolutely necessary, keeping Kris in bed and horizontal.

But, tomorrow Adam had to fly back to LA. His vacation had to end sometime and they had both known it was coming. They had a plan, of sorts, and they had talked about it. They had talked a lot, actually. Kris was slowly starting to believe his own words when he said he was going to do everything in his power to make it work, to make them work. More importantly, he was starting to believe Adam when he said the same thing.

They were currently sprawled on the sand by the water close to their spot, the one they’d had in high school. Kris was lying back against Adam, just enjoying the warmth he could feel in the places where their bodies touched.

He could feel Adam breathing and he didn’t ever want to move from this spot.

Kris spoke so his voice carried over the waves, “what’ya thinking about?”

He heard Adam sigh, “you’re music, those songs you sung me last night. They were amazing Kris.”

It had taken Kris a few days to work up the courage to ask Adam to listen to them. Every single one had been about Adam, which had been obvious. But, Kris hadn’t expected Adam to like them so much, or to cry, or to try and talk Kris into letting Adam set up a meeting with his label.

Kris smiled, “thank you, but the answer is still no.”

“No for right now, or just no?”

Kris laughed at Adam’s incorrigibleness, “how about, no let’s try and get everything between us figured out and settled down and right before any of that. I think just trying to be together and move our lives around for each other will be enough to handle without you trying to get me a recording contract.”

Adam’s voice lost its teasing tone, “Kris, I know it’s scary but we’ll make it work. I promise. I meant what I said about having two houses and flying back and forth and whatever crazy stuff we have to do to stay together.”

Kris nodded; he was trying so hard to believe that they could make this work. They weren’t teenagers anymore; they were grown adults with means and choices and the ability to decide to be together. He could decide to open a west coast office. Adam could decide to take him on tour.

Adam’s warm voice floated into Kris’s ear as his arms tightened, “I’m not going to get back to LA and change my mind waiting for you. I’m not going to suddenly decide that you’re too dull, or something as equally ridiculous, to fit into my life.”

Kris smiled, the last warm rays of the dying sun hitting his face as Adam whispered to him his greatest fear. Kris wasn’t afraid to drastically change his life, he wasn’t afraid to go charging after something he had wanted for so long. He was afraid to do all that without knowing if Adam felt the same way.

Which was ridiculous, of course he did. If he said he did, then he did. It was just--- difficult, to trust someone so completely, to believe that when they said they wanted you forever that they meant forever.

Kris felt Adam’s lips press into the side of his neck, his ear, his temple, just a light brush of lips, “trust me, this isn’t some vacation fling. We’ve known each other our whole lives Kris. Trust me to care as deeply for you as you do for me. Try to remember all those times in high school that I just laid beside you as we breathed together. I missed that. I want that back. For the rest of our lives.”

Kris took a deep breath, “you always know what to say. You seem to remember a lot about how my brain works.”

Adam chuckled, but his voice was serious, “ten years isn’t enough time to forget, especially someone who’s as unforgettable as you.”

Kris watched the tide come in, each wave crashing closer and closer to their feet, “I knew you’d come home someday.”

Kris felt Adam shift behind him, “I always hoped you’d be waiting when I did.”

“Friendship is funny that way,” Kris said, “it never forgets, it never goes away. Even when you grow-up, grow apart, move away, get mad… it’s always in the back of your mind saying ‘yeah, I’m still here’ and ‘remember when’.”

“We have the chance to be so much more,” Adam’s hand gripped Kris’s with a firmer grasp where it rested over Kris’s chest.

Kris grinned, “I know, we’re going to make it work. I’ve already cleared my schedule to fly out to LA in a few weeks.”

Adam laughed, “I’m going to call you every day…”

Kris scoffed, “…please, you’ll call me like three times a day…”

Kris felt Adam shrug, “you know me so well.”

It was Kris’s turn to squeeze Adam’s hand, “you know what they say… the heart never forgets.”

Kris watched the ocean turn dark as twilight painted the water in deep blues and shimmering gold. In his mind, the ocean had always been home. It had been he and Adam’s backyard when they had been friends, it had consoled Kris’s loneliness these past years, and it had brought Adam back to him. But, Kris was determined to make home wherever Adam was--- wherever they were together--- even if that meant leaving his beloved Carolina coast.

Kris would just have to carry the Atlantic Ocean in his heart; in the same space he had carried his love for Adam all these years. What mattered was that they were moving ahead together, letting their belief in one another carry each other forward and allowing all the hurt and doubt to wash away like sand on the beach as it was dragged out to sea by the waves.

Love builds up the broken wall and straightens the crooked path.  
Love keeps the stars in the firmament and imposes rhythm on the ocean tides.  
Each of us is created of it and, I suspect, each of us was created for it.  
\--Maya Angelou  
 

  
**Eight Months Later**

Katy watched as Noah bounced up and down in front of the TV with restless energy, “Mama, when is Uncle Kris and Uncle Adam coming?!”

Katy smiled, “soon Honey, they have to wait their turn in line.”

Noah pouted, “Uncle Adam says that rock stars don’ wait for anyone.”

Katy tried not to laugh as she briefly thought about strangling Adam in her mind, “well, rock stars are people too and even rock stars have to be polite Noah Kristopher Giraud.”

Noah made an insolent noise but sat down in front of the TV as the line of limos creeped past the red carpet to let celebrities out at the Grammy’s.

Katy settled into the couch as Matt laughed at her and whispered, “You’re just as excited as he is, but you’re covering better.”

Katy smiled and was about to say something back to him when Noah yelled, “Mama, mama, mama, there they are!”

He was up again, jumping in front of the TV and pointing at the screen to where Adam and Kris were emerging from a limo. Katy could see them smiling and holding hands as they waved at the screaming crowd across the street.

Katy could tell Kris was nervous but he didn’t let on, his smile radiant and his posture confident as he allowed Adam to lead them down the carpet and by the press tents. Katy smiled at the look on Adam’s face as he continuously glanced at Kris.

The camera panned off of them and back to the limo line where Katy Perry was emerging.

Noah turned around still bouncing, “I want a limo like Uncle Kris and Uncle Adam! It was cool!”

Katy laughed and said, “Well, we’ll see about that! Right now, it is time for bed!”

Matt got up off the couch to scoop Noah up and carry him upstairs to tuck him in, all the while Noah still talking excitedly about the limo.

Katy picked up her phone and sent a text: your godson says he wants a limo too.

A few seconds later it beeped with a reply: tell him it will be a yellow hummer and full of candy and stuffed animals.

She laughed and sent back: you are always encouraging him! I’m going to send him to LA for the summer so you can get a taste for his tantrums! We’ll see how long you’re the cool uncle then!

Her phone beeped again a second later: that kid LOVES me! I accept your challenge.

Katy looked up and was startled to see Kris and Adam on her TV again, in the back ground of a Rihanna interview. They were both bent over Adam’s phone, presumably so Kris could read Katy and Adam’s text conversation. They both laughed as Adam slipped his phone back in his pocket and Kris reached up to fix his lapels, smoothing his hands over Adam’s chest.

As Kris moved to step back Adam leaned down and pecked him on the lips quickly, surprising Kris who smiled and looked around to see if anyone was watching them before he shrugged as he laughed. Adam slipped his hand into Kris’s, lacing their fingers together as he guided them towards the next photo op and interview.

Katy grinned stupidly at her TV screen, letting her quiet, happy laughter mix with the soft sound of the ocean waves floating in through her screen door on the sea breeze.

The tide comes higher up the smooth, wide beach,  
Singing the song it has for ages sung;  
Recedes, and carries far beyond our reach  
The freight my idle hands have seaward flung.  
Still higher creeps the tide with subtle power,  
And still the waves advance with sullen roar;  
But with the last faint gleam of twilight hour  
I turn me homeward from the lonely shore.  
~Mary Dow Brine

The End


End file.
